China returns fire in Donald Trump’s trade war

Hi there and welcome to the working week.

In financial wars, as in navy ones, an preliminary onslaught is adopted by return fireplace. That is the place by which we discover ourselves as we head into one other rollercoaster seven days.

On Monday China imposes tariffs of as much as 15 per cent on the US, masking cotton and agricultural items together with hen, corn and soyabeans. These are a direct response to the opening salvo tariffs by US President Donald Trump, who will add a 25 per cent levy on aluminium imports to his protectionist roster on Wednesday. Not like the on-again-off-again battle with neighbours Mexico and Canada, these tariffs look more likely to stick.

Trump’s claims that his commerce wars will solely trigger a “little disturbance” seems optimistic to say the least as a result of the same old elements that comprise such outbreaks don’t seem like enjoying out this time, because the Monetary Occasions columnist and Commerce Secrets and techniques author Alan Beattie explains.

Whereas all of this tit-for-tat financial skirmishing performs out, Britain will host a church service on Monday at Westminster Abbey, the annual gathering to rejoice commerce and mutual co-operation among the many 56 member nations of the Commonwealth. After all, this submit Empire membership is a removed from simple coalition, so there could be the form of fireworks the hosts would favor to do with out.

Greenland’s 41,126 registered voters go to the polls for a normal election on Tuesday. This may not usually be headline international information had the sparsely populated Arctic island not been added to Trump’s abroad territory procuring checklist. But it surely has — and you’ll find out precisely why by studying my colleague Richard Milne’s report from the fjords of Nuuk. The large challenge for voters is Greenland’s (pre-Trump) independence aspirations — the most important dividing line between the primary events is how rapidly, not whether or not this will happen. There may be additionally concern about relations between its present proprietor Denmark and the US, in addition to the native considerations concerning the fragile economic system, which is very depending on fishing and Danish grants.

And so to company information, the place the outcomes rush turns to a trickle, however with notable examples within the shopper items and retail areas. Brick behemoth Lego reviews full-year outcomes on Tuesday with the primary query being how can the plastic toy producer maintain the latest glowing type that has now even branched into Method 1 racing. On Thursday British retailing stalwart John Lewis unveils its first set of annual outcomes below chair Jason Tarry, a veteran of UK grocery store doyen Tesco, who took over from Dame Sharon White final yr. Its 65,000 workers, who collectively personal the John Lewis and Waitrose manufacturers, will discover out if they’ll obtain an annual bonus (hopes are not high) after a three-year hiatus because the group makes an attempt to show itself spherical.

Thames Water will likely be again within the information (is it ever out of it?) with a Excessive Court docket listening to on account of start on Tuesday over the £3bn restructuring plan proposed by father or mother firm Thames Water Utilities Holdings. The utility, which has confronted long-term struggles over infrastructure prices, has a debt of £19bn and is more likely to default on this quickly. Should you’ve not learn it already I like to recommend my colleague John Gapper’s evaluation, arguing that the only way forward may be to borrow more.

There’s a regular run of financial information. The headline occasions will likely be US inflation, watched for any indicators of a tariff-induced uptick, in addition to UK and Japanese GDP estimates plus EU employment information. Extra particulars about these and different gadgets under.

Yet one more factor . . . 

The youngest Moules turns 16 this week. Once I was his age — additionally the youngest of my siblings — my dad and mom allowed me to have a home social gathering, which turned out to be slightly, er, wild. We didn’t want TikTok to show issues viral, just a few mouthy mates and a backyard that backed on to a public park. It’s why I’m ceaselessly grateful that none of my kids have proven the slightest curiosity in such gatherings at our London house, however in accordance with this House & Home piece it’s one other Zoomer generational shift.

Any concepts about the easiest way to toast a boy’s coming of age, or certainly tips on how to cope with the larger international crises? E mail me at jonathan.moules@ft.com or, in case your studying this in your inbox, hit reply.

Key financial and firm reviews

Here’s a extra full checklist of what to anticipate by way of firm reviews and financial information this week.

Monday

• Direct Line normal assembly of shareholders to vote on the proposed acquisition of the corporate by Aviva

• Germany: January industrial manufacturing information

• UK: KPMG/REC UK Report on Jobs and BDO Enterprise Tendencies report

• Outcomes: Clarkson FY, HgCapital Belief FY, Jardine Matheson FY, Oracle Q3

Tuesday

• Excessive Court docket listening to begins after final month’s approval of a £3bn restructure plan for the father or mother firm of Thames Water, which has money owed of about £19bn

• Japan: revised This fall GDP estimate (AM native time)

• UK: BRC-KPMG Retail Gross sales Monitor plus Manpower UK Employment Outlook Survey

• US: January Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) information

• Outcomes: Costain FY, Domino’s Pizza Group FY, Ferguson Enterprises FY, Henkel FY, Kier HY, Lego FY, Persimmon FY, Rotork FY, STV FY, TP ICAP FY, Volkswagen FY

Wednesday

• OPEC month-to-month Oil Market Report

• Canada: Financial institution of Canada rate of interest announcement

• EU: February shopper value index (CPI) inflation price information

• US: February CPI inflation price information

• Outcomes: Adobe Q1, Balfour Beatty FY, Brenntag FY, Crown Fortress This fall, Ferrexpo FY, Forterra FY, Gymnasium Group FY, Hill & Smith FY, Hochschild Mining FY, Inditex FY, Authorized & Basic FY, Mercedes-Benz FY, PensionBee FY, Porsche FY, Puma FY

Thursday

• FT Dwell Wealth Administration Summit Asia, each in-person in Singapore and on-line. Register here for a spot

• IEA Oil Market Report

• EU: January industrial manufacturing figures

• UK: RICS Residential Market Survey

• US: February producer value index (PPI) inflation price information

• Outcomes: Bridgepoint FY, C&C Group pre-close buying and selling replace for FY, Deliveroo FY, Deutsche Financial institution FY, DFS Furnishings HY, Greenback Basic This fall, Helios Towers FY, HelloFresh FY, IG Group Q3, John Lewis Partnership FY, OSB Group FY, Restore FY, Savills FY, Trainline buying and selling replace for FY, Volution Group HY

Friday

• EU: This fall labour market figures

• Germany: February CPI and harmonised index of shopper costs (HICP) inflation price information

• UK: January GDP estimate. Additionally, Financial institution of England February inflation attitudes survey

• Outcomes: AIA Group FY, Allianz FY, Berkeley Group buying and selling replace, BMW FY, Daimler Truck FY, Foxconn This fall, Swiss Life FY, Vanquis Banking Group FY

World occasions

Lastly, here’s a rundown of different occasions and milestones this week.

Monday

• China: US import tariffs of as much as 15 per cent come into power in response to Trump’s levies on Chinese language exports to America. It is usually the final day of this yr’s Nationwide Committee of the Chinese language Individuals’s Political Consultative Convention annual session, for China’s high political advisory physique. The Nationwide Individuals’s Congress annual session is below method and runs till Tuesday

• Saudi Arabia: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives for peace talks, selecting up on a postponed go to that was on account of occur in mid-February

• UK: Service at Westminster Abbey in London marking Commonwealth Day, the annual celebration of the Commonwealth of Nations

• US: 69th session of the Fee on the Standing of Ladies begins at UN headquarters in New York, working till March 21

Tuesday

• Fifth anniversary of the World Well being Group declaring the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak a pandemic as instances surged in Italy, Iran, South Korea and Japan. The virus was first recognized in China

• Belgium: Financial and Monetary Affairs Council (Ecofin) assembly of EU finance ministers in Brussels

• Greenland: parliamentary elections

• UK: MPs on the Setting, Meals and Rural Affairs committee query executives from Northumbrian Water and Dwr Cymru Welsh Water as a part of the inquiry on reform of the water sector

Wednesday

• Belize: parliamentary elections

• Canada: G7 international ministers assembly within the Charlevoix area of Quebec.

• US: Trump imposes 25 per cent tariffs on metal and aluminium imports. He will even host Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin for a bilateral assembly as a part of the latter’s annual St Patrick’s go to to Washington

• US: SpaceX Crew-10 mission, a Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket, launches from the Kennedy House Heart in Florida on a voyage to the Worldwide House Station

• Vietnam: AI-Semiconductor conference begins in Hanoi, working till Friday. Attendees anticipated to incorporate executives from Google DeepMind, IBM, Intel, TSMC, Samsung, MediaTek, Tokyo Electron, Panasonic, Qorvo and Marvell

Thursday

• Holi, the two-day Hindu pageant of colors, celebrating the arrival of spring and the triumph of excellent over evil, begins

• South Africa: President Cyril Ramaphosa performs host to European Council President António Costa and European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen for the eighth EU-South Africa Summit

• US: Affiliation for Asian Research annual convention begins in Columbus, Ohio, working till Sunday

Friday

• UK: Gold Cup Day on the Cheltenham Competition, the grand finale of a four-day occasion, hailed because the world’s most vital horseracing leap occasion

• US: deadline to increase funding for elements of the federal authorities and keep away from a shutdown, following a last-gasp resolution in December, which offered help for pure catastrophe aid and farmers however didn’t change the debt ceiling

Saturday

Sunday

• Latvia: Legion Day, commemorating troopers of the Latvian Legion that served in Nazi Germany’s Waffen-SS department through the second world struggle

• UK: St Patrick’s Day parade in London forward of the Irish patron saint’s feast day tomorrow